NES Rental Holdings last week announced the opening of a branch in Panama City, Fla. The company is opening a branch in the north Florida city in response to significant growth and opportunity in the area because of the construction of a new international airport, ongoing vacation rental construction and additional industries and businesses being built. The branch will also serve Tallahassee, Fla., and Dothan, Ala.

“The Panama City area is an attractive and high-growth region resulting in numerous construction rental opportunities,” said Don Irwin, regional vice president south. “We felt serving this community would fit with our strategic growth goals and the best way to serve was to establish a home base there.”

Frankie Shields was named branch manager and Larry Sager operations manager.

In other NES news, driver Joe Gallant Jr. has been honored by the National Safety Council as the Joseph M. Kaplan Safe Driver of the Year for Connecticut. The award qualifies Gallant for the national award to be announced at the 2007 Annual National Safety Awards Banquet in Chicago Oct. 16.

Winners of the award are judged based on their total driving record throughout their career, including total number of years driven, total number of miles driven, total number of hours behind the wheel and total number of accidents. Gallant qualified with more than 25 total years of driving, 1,250,000 miles driven and 108,900 hours behind the wheel.

Based in Chicago, NES Rentals is No. 6 on the RER 100.